Actress Taylour Paige is Making Her Mark

This interview appears in the pages on V115, our Fall 2018 issue. Head to shop.vmagazine.com to order your copy today!

“I want to help shift consciousness,” says Los Angeles–born Taylour Paige. The 27-year-old actress, noting the sea change going on in culture right now, says, “There’s still a lot of bullshit in the world, but people are also being like, ‘We’re over this patriarchal society telling us how we’re going to do things.’”

For Paige, being a part of the transformative wave means doing projects helmed by black women directors — like Stella Meghie’s Jean of the Joneses, in which Paige stars — as well as doing films she believes will have a real impact — like White Boy Rick, a crime drama based on the story of Richard Wershe Jr., the youngest FBI informant ever. “We’re gonna change this man’s life,” says Paige, asserting that the lm will exonerate Wershe Jr.—who spent three decades behind bars for dealing drugs that the FBI trained and funded him to sell—among the wider public. “I hope this film makes people look more closely at our judicial laws,” she says.

Working on White Boy Rick, Paige appreciated director Yann Demange’s approach. “He really trusted me,” she recalls. “I’ve been lucky. The roles lately really feel like they’re meeting me where I’m at. Each one is demanding a new layer of Taylour, and it’s been fun to unpeel the layers of myself.” This sort of personal growth is exactly what Paige was looking for after three seasons starring in the dance-themed VH1 show Hit the Floor. “I want things that push me,” affirms Paige, even if that means sacrificing financial security. “I’ve had random, crazy jobs. I’ve cleaned toilets,” she continues. Yet, in spite of the struggle involved, Paige’s intense hustle has clearly paid off: “I’ve become the most grounded and the most empathetic in the process.”

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